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  • Friends are Good for Your Health

    Posted 5/20/2013 by hhill
      We already knew this. We all need friends, and we especially need friends when we have troubles. We need friends, then, who can comfort us, cry with us, hug us and care for us. We also need friends who make us laugh and push us a bit and plan excursions when we can't begin to imagine finding the energy to do so. In Social Work 101, they teach you that people with strong social support networks do better in all kinds of ways in life. They are less likely to be depressed, are more successful, even live longer. Read more... Comments (0)
  • Caffeine Intake and Coffee and Breast Cancer Risk

    Posted 5/19/2013 by hhill

      I debated whether or not to write about this, but decided that it is too good an example of the deluge of confusing and conflicting news to ignore. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will remember that not long ago, I wrote about a study that suggested that moderate coffee drinkers had a lower risk of breast cancer than those who drank less or no coffee.

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  • What do I Say

    Posted 5/18/2013 by hhill
      We all have had people say really stupid, at best, or hurtful, at worst, things to us about our cancer. When you are feeling well and forgiving, it is possible to remember that these remarks usually come from a place of good will and that hardly anyone has the overt intention of cruelty. When you are not feeling so well, it is very easy to be hurt and angry. Comments that often stimulate our strong negative responses may be the stories about the speaker's friend/cousin/co-worker/neighbor who "had just your kind of cancer....and died." or words that make it clear that the speaker is trying to put distance between us. Read more... Comments (0)
  • TSA Tries to be Helpful

    Posted 5/17/2013 by blewando
    Many of us have horror stories about interactions with the TSA at various airports. Some of them have even made the national news; do you remember the very old woman in a wheelchair who was taken aside and frisked because she was wearing Depends? My own infuriating experiences have always been related to the newer x-ray screening machines and the fact that I wear a prosthesis. To be fair, the bad episodes are happening less often as (I assume) the TSA people who read those images have become more experienced at differentiating a prosthesis from a bomb. It does still happen, however, so I approach each machine with some trepidation. As I have written before, my strategies depend upon the mood of the moment. If I am feeling especially tough and feisty, I whip out the prosthesis and toss it in the bin along with my shoes. That always garners a number of horrified looks, but sometimes I don't care. If I am feeling more shy or vulnerable, I take it out in the ladies' room and stick it in my purse. And sometimes I just take my chances. Read more... Comments (0)
  • And Still More about Angelina Jolie and her Decision

    Posted 5/16/2013 by hhill
      I am aware that one way of looking at this is that I can't let it go or know when enough is enough or am obsessed with the news about Angelina Jolie's decision. I suppose that all three views are a little true, and I am sometimes (my husband might say often) guilty of not knowing when enough is enough. However, in my defense in this instance, this news has continued to dominate my time, and I am hearing from so many women who are reacting strongly. At the end of a group for women post treatment yesterday, this came up. One woman, who has had bilateral mastectomies after a high risk breast cancer, began to talk passionately about her own situation, and it was clear that the news had stirred up many intense feelings that were overwhelming. Read more... Comments (0)
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About the Blogger

Hester Hill Schnipper, LICSW, OSW-C is the Manager of Oncology Social Work at BIDMC. For more than thirty years, her daily work at BIDMC has been primarily focused on supporting women with breast cancer. A nationally known writer and speaker, she was the Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's first Hatcher Survivorship Professor. In 1993, and again in 2005, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through the standard treatments of surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, and hormonal therapy. These experiences have given her great credibility with her patients and transformed her life's work to her life. Ms. Schnipper lives gratefully with her husband in an ancient farmhouse outside of Boston and spends as much time as possible in a water front cottage on Mt Desert Island. Between them, they have five adult children and seven grandchildren; she claims biological responsibility for two and three of them.